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Zinn, B. T.

Publications and source records attributed to Zinn, B. T..

At least 55 records · Page 3

The prediction of nonlinear three dimensional combustion instability in liquid rockets with conventional nozzles

An analytical technique is developed to solve nonlinear three-dimensional, transverse and axial combustion instability problems associated with liquid-propellant rocket motors. The Method of Weighted Residuals is used to determine the nonlinear stability characteristics of a cylindrical combustor with uniform injection of propellants at one end and a conventional DeLaval nozzle at the other end. Crocco's pressure sensitive time-lag model is used to describe the unsteady combustion process. The developed model predicts the transient behavior and nonlinear wave shapes as well as limit-cycle amplitudes and frequencies typical of unstable motor operation. The limit-cycle amplitude increases with increasing sensitivity of the combustion process to pressure oscillations. For transverse instabilities, calculated pressure waveforms exhibit sharp peaks and shallow minima, and the frequency of oscillation is within a few percent of the pure acoustic mode frequency. For axial instabilities, the theory predicts a steep-fronted wave moving back and forth along the combustor.

Powell, E. A.

Experimental and theoretical determination of the admittances of a family of nozzles subjected to axial instabilities.

The interaction between the oscillations in the combustor and the wave system in the nozzle (required in combustion instability analysis of rocket engines) can be determined once the nozzle admittance is known. Experimental and theoretical methods of determining the admittance of nozzles subjected to axial oscillations are discussed. One-dimensional nozzle admittances were measured by an impedance tube technique modified to account for the presence of a mean flow. Crocco's nozzle admittance theory is applied to the prediction of admittances for several test nozzles.

Bell, W. A.

Experimental determination of three-dimensional liquid rocket nozzle admittances.

The three-dimensional nozzle admittance, an important parameter in combustion instability studies, was experimentally measured for several nozzle configurations. The admittance values were obtained using a modification of the classical impedance tube technique. The modified impedance tube method measures the admittance of a duct termination in the presence of one-dimensional mean flow and three-dimensional oscillations. Values of the nozzle admittance were obtained from pressure amplitude measurements taken at discrete points along the length of the tube. To determine the effects of nozzle geometry, nozzles were tested with half-angles of 15, 30, and 45 deg and entrance Mach numbers of 0.08, 0.16, and 0.20. The admittance results are presented as functions of nondimensional frequency for mixed first tangential-longitudinal modes. These results are compared with available theoretical predictions, and good agreement between theory and experiment is shown.

Zinn, B. T.

The prediction of three-dimensional liquid-propellant rocket nozzle admittances

Crocco's three-dimensional nozzle admittance theory is extended to be applicable when the amplitudes of the combustor and nozzle oscillations increase or decrease with time. An analytical procedure and a computer program for determining nozzle admittance values from the extended theory are presented and used to compute the admittances of a family of liquid-propellant rocket nozzles. The calculated results indicate that the nozzle geometry entrance Mach number and temporal decay coefficient significantly affect the nozzle admittance values. The theoretical predictions are shown to be in good agreement with available experimental data.

Bell, W. A.

Nonlinear longitudinal combustion instability in rocket motors.

A new analytical technique for the solution of nonlinear longitudinal combustion instability problems in rocket combustors is developed. Using relatively little computation time, this technique is capable of predicting the transient and limit cycle behavior of the combustion instability oscillations as well as the disturbance amplitude required to trigger an instability in a linearly stable motor. The limit cycle waveforms are found to exhibit shock wave characteristics for most unstable engine operating conditions. It is shown that the characteristics of the resulting instability are independent of the nature of the initial disturbance and they depend solely upon the engine operating conditions and the characteristics of the unsteady combustion process.

Lores, M. E.

Experimental determination of three dimensional liquid rocket nozzle admittances.

The three dimensional nozzle admittance, an important parameter in combustion instability studies, was experimentally measured for several nozzle configurations. The admittance values were obtained using a modification of the classical impedance tube technique. The modified impedance tube method measures the admittance of a duct termination in the presence of one dimensional mean flow and three dimensional oscillations. Values of the nozzle admittance were obtained from pressure amplitude measurements taken at discrete points along the length of the tube. To determine the effects of nozzle geometry, nozzles were tested with half-angles of 15, 30, and 45 degrees and entrance Mach numbers of 0.08, 0.16, and 0.20. The admittance results are presented as functions of nondimensional frequency for mixed first tangential-longitudinal modes. These results are compared with available theoretical predictions and favorable agreement between theory and experiment is shown.

Zinn, B. T.

The prediction of nonlinear longitudinal combustion instability in liquid propellant rockets

An analytical technique was developed to solve nonlinear longitudinal combustion instability problems. The analysis yields the transient and limit cycle behavior of unstable motors and the threshold amplitude required to trigger a linearly stable motor into unstable operation. The limit cycle waveforms were found to exhibit shock wave characteristics for most unstable engine operating conditions. A method of correlating the analytical solutions with experimental data was developed. Calculated results indicate that a second-order solution adequately describes the behavior of combustion instability oscillations over a broad range of engine operating conditions, but that higher order effects must be accounted for in order to investigate engine triggering.

Lores, M. E.

Application of the Galerkin Method in the Design of Stable Liquid Rocket Motors

A brief description of results obtained in the continuing investigations is presented. The following areas are covered: (1) the development of the third-order, multimode theory to study the behavior of large amplitude transverse instabilities, (2) nonlinear axial mode instability, and (3) the influence of the functional form of the unsteady combustion response function upon the stability characteristics of rocket motors. Also a study was begun to improve the second order potential theory in order to provide a better approximation to the nozzle boundary condition.

Zinn, B. T.

Behavior of nozzles and acoustic liners in three dimensional acoustic fields

Theoretical values of the admittances of various nozzles were computed and compared with the corresponding experimental values. The existing data reduction scheme was corrected and all available experimental data has been rechecked and corrected whenever necessary; the updated experimental admittance values are presented. An analysis associated with the frequency sensitivity of experimental admittance values was initiated and the analog-to-digital Data Reduction Program which has become operational is discussed. Fourteen nozzle tests were conducted during this report period.

Zinn, B. T.